Forward A.J. Michaelson of Waterloo (USHL) and defenseman Mike Reilly of Penticton (BCHL) are playing for the U.S. team competing in the World Junior A Challenge in Surrey, British Columbia. Both are expected to be part of the Gophers' next incoming freshman class.

Forward Mario Lucia, Reilly's Penticton teammate, is on the U.S. team, too. It is the three-time defending champion in the Challenge but lost its first game on Monday, 1-0 to Sweden on a goal in the last seconds. ... Lucia, of course, is Don Lucia's younger son and was a Wild's second-round draft pick in 2011. He will sign with Notre Dame, his dad's alma mater.

Defenseman Brady Skjei is with his under-18 U.S. national team in Switzerland right now, playing in the Four Nations' Cup which runs through Sunday. Skjei's team has an exhibition game with Switzerland on Wednesday, then plays Sweden on Friday, Finland on Saturday and Switzerland on Sunday. Tough grind.

Lakeville South senior center Justin Kloos, who will sign with the Gophers in a ceremony at school on Wednesday morning, recently finished a big season in the Upper Midwest Elite League. Kloos, who played for Team Southeast, led the league with 17 goals and 47 points in 21 games. His team was 14-4-3 (third number is overtime losses) and was the Elite League regular-season champion.

Kloos' high school team was 16-9-2 last season when he had 90 points; it lost in the section finals.

One of his Team Southeast teammates was Jake Guentzel, whose father Mike is the Gophers' associate head coach. Jake, playing on the same line with Kloos, was second in the Elite League in points with 41. He had 14 goals.

REILLYS LIKE PENTICTON

The parents of the three Reillys, Mike and Lisa, visited Penticton about three weeks.

"They love it [Penticton]," said their father, Mike. "They are buddies with Mario [Lucia], [Steven] Fogarty, [Joey] Benik and some of the other Minnesota kids."

He said Connor and Ryan are staying with one billet family, Mike, their upimger brother, and Mario Lucia with another billet family.

"The USHL might ask why would a group of kids from Minnesota go up there?" Mike Reilly, sr., said. "It's a good opportunity to experience something different."

Roman Augustoviz spends Minnesota's winters covering college hockey, specifically the Gophers, and other University of Minnesota sports. During the summer, he writes about the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, with a dose of U sports sprinkled in. Follow @RomanStrib on Twitter. E-mail Roman.